Bonum Certa Men Certa

Links 1/1/2010: Many New GNU/Linux Releases, Ubuntu Tweak 0.5



Novell happy year





GNOME bluefish

Contents





GNU/Linux

  • A standard Windows desktop is useless
    I type, LyX does the layout. Creating a PDF is painless. With eLyXer HTML creation is easy - and boy, does it look good. With LaTeX2RTF I can create those @#$% Word documents the whole world seems to be craving for. I written my entire 4tH manual with LyX, which is over 450 densely written letter-size pages - with graphics. No problem. Making references, bibliographies or a simple table of contents, it's just a few quick clicks away. I fire LyX up, adjust the document properties and I'm away. I type the title, my name, indicate this is the "title" and "author" and begin my first section. Highlight the section title, indicate this is a "section" and off we go. That's how you produce content. Needless to say that once you've put an image somewhere that it doesn't move anymore - and certainly isn't overlaid.


  • The Linux Commercial Contest
    Post a link to that video in the Comments section below this post.

    The deadline is January 10, 2010 at 5pm Eastern Standard Time. You can post your entries after that time but they won't be considered for the contest.

    I will announce the winners via a post here on Daniweb on January 15, 2010.

    There will be three winners: First, Second and Third place.

    Winners will receive fame and possibly some higher form of recognition. I'll work on that part.

    Winners will be judged on the following criteria: 1. Originality 2. Number YouTube views 3. Commercial Appeal

    Good luck and get creative.


  • IT Experts: Our Top Tech Resolutions for 2009
    If you're not going to stick with Windows, then jump ship in 2009 -- after all, it's now clear that Windows 7 won't be a brand-new OS but simply a better Vista, so what are you waiting for? Plus, the next Mac OS X, Snow Leopard, will also be a continuation of the current OS, so there's no reason to delay your journey down that path. Linux's stability also argues for not waiting.




  • Applications

    • Trying Out Single Window Mode on GIMP 2.7
      Once you run GIMP 2.7, you'll notice that it will start up in the traditional multi-window interface. To switch to the single-window interface, go to the "Windows" menu and toggle "Single-window mode".

      Now that GIMP has the window mode of your choice, I hope the multi-window zealots and the single-window lovers can both rejoice about the wonderful, yet underrated program we know as GIMP.


    • A Look Back At Docky in 2009
      As with a few other of my favourite Linux applications, Docky has an incredibly insightful and focused team who hare a passion for making Docky awesome – as proven by its breathtakingly fast development speed!


    • Some GNOME Activity Journal (GNOME Zeitgeist) Screenshots
      So after some cleanup we decided to upload these pics before new years starts. Development is going very fast thanks to the Zeitgeist Framework 0.3 series. This is not our final design and there are ofcourse some usability flaws. We welcome critics, praises and suggestions.


    • Learning is Childsplay
      I spent some time looking at Childsplay and if you have small children, I think you should too. As soon as I started the program, it started to play it's theme song and my 18 month old son came running, and he still comes running every time he hears that music. For most parents and educators, my review of this program could end right here, but I suspect that I should probably write a bit more.


    • Android apps: Six of the best
      Astrid

      Astrid is a to-do list manager on steroids. Astrid can be used to create tasks with notes, deadlines, reminders tags and priorities. Input is straightforward and reminders can be set in any form. Astrid can also sync with online site Rememberthemilk.com and prompts you with human-like reminders at regular intervals: "Let's get this done". Tasks can also record time spent on each of them so Astrid also acts like a time-logger for billing hours. If you have stuff to do then Astrid is the best at keeping you organised.




    • Instructionals







    • Games

      • 3 Wonderful Open-Source Games to Install After Installing Ubuntu
        Wesnoth 1.6.5

        Scripting is handled in Wesnoth by WML, the Wesnoth Markup Language, which allows for building entire scenarios and campaigns.

        Wesnoth is in a continuous change, with every new release bringing more features and gameplay innovation. The current stable release is 1.6.5, but soon 1.8 will be out, and it will include new unit portraits, WML (Wesnoth Markup Language) improvements, updated campaigns and more. 1.8 will also allow the user to directly upload user-made campaigns and scenario from in-game add-ons menu.












  • Distributions

    • Getting Started with Arch Linux
      It’s hard to come up with an opinion about Arch, since Arch is what you make of it. I like that it gives so much control to the user when it comes to system configuration, but at times it feels like a little too much control. There are a few things that make you think “come on, does this HAVE to be manual?” but the developers are clearly just trying to follow the Arch philosophy of giving the user all the control. In particular, it would be nice to have tools like hwd and aurbuild as part of the system, or at least available for installation through pacman. That may happen at some point as packages in AUR have a chance to be worked into the community repo eventually. Overall I think I like Arch and pacman, and I can see how it would make a great choice for systems that should be kept fast and clean.




    • New Releases







    • Mandriva

      • Noteworthy changes 21 december – 31 december 2009
        In spite of the holiday season, lots of new packages continue to trickle in Mandriva Cooker. Amongst the many updates, here is an overview of some important changes:

        * GNOME is now updated toversion 2.29.4: The most important changes are in Nautilus. In preparation of GNOME 3.0, where Nautilus will purely be a file browser and won’t provide the desktop anymore, the file management part has been improved a lot. Upstream is now using browser mode by default (this was already the case in Mandriva) and made several UI improvements for it. The developers have added now an optional split view like Midnight Commander. Another useful change is that it’s now possible in GNOME to configure a background per monitor on a multi-monitor setup in GNOME. Also worth mentioning is the fast progress the Tracker document search engine is making since some time. I would recommend removing Beagle from your Cooker system, and switching to Tracker instead. Then by clicking on the Search button in Nautilus’ toolbar, you can easily search your files. * KDE has been updated to the latest beta, which is version 4.4 beta 2.








    • Ubuntu Tweak

      • Ubuntu Tweak Gets New User-based Website, New Release
        Today should also see the release of Ubuntu 0.5.0 which sports a slightly-rejigged interface and several new features – not least of which being the integration of UTCOM application database.


      • Ubuntu Tweak 0.5: An Early Look
        Ubuntu Tweak 0.5 will come with a redesigned UI (but version 0.6 will suffer major UI changes), XFCE specific features and most importantly: the ability to fetch online database to keep the ppplication information up-to-date. That means that you will be able to keep your applications and sources up-to-date without updating Ubuntu Tweak.










  • Devices/Embedded

    • Ask a Geek: Home servers, and why you need one
      The final solution that I can present is to use a Linux distribution such as Ubuntu Server (http://ubuntu.com). There are a great many tutorials throughout the Internet that will walk you through setting up Ubuntu as a server, and more specifically as a home server. Please know that this column lists solutions from least to most complicated, and Ubuntu will be the hardest setup of the solutions presented. At the same time, Ubuntu will also provide you with the most flexibility to do whatever you want with your own machine for little to no cost.


    • Tri-OS SmartQ V5 MID goes on sale in China
      The company does reveal, however, that the device is powered by a 600MHz ARM11 CPU which can be overclocked to 800MHz thanks to a firmware update. Most interestingly, the V5 ships with Android, Ubuntu Linux and Windows CE 6.0 preloaded.








Free Software/Open Source

  • Spoiled Brats




  • BSD

    • Letter from the President
      In 2009, the FreeBSD project had the misfortune of losing two long time contributors: John Birrell and Jean-Marc Zucconi. I chatted with John recently, during this year's BSDCAN, so his death was all the more shocking. It forced me to recognize my own mortality and to consider what contributions from our lives remain after we pass away. Reviewing the heritage of FreeBSD it becomes clear that our work on this project takes on a life of its own. John and Jean-Marc's efforts live on in FreeBSD.


    • The Great Fallacy of BSD Unix vs. Linux
      "Linux is just a kernel." It's a commonly heard refrain amongst the arguments put forward by BSD Unix aficionados, and it is a true statement, but it is all too often abused to try to make a fallacious point.








  • Programming

    • Release Early, Release Often, Adopt Slowly
      The Mozilla folks can push people to upgrade to the next release Firefox in droves because it's relatively easy to upgrade to the latest Firefox, and they have mechanisms in place to make that easy. But one shouldn't expect that all technology adoption is going to happen at the same clip. Moving to a new OS or a new version of PostgreSQL or Python requires a lot of moving bits to be aligned correctly.








Leftovers

  • 10 Historic Events Then and Now


  • South Korea Closes Flash Memory Antitrust Investigation
    South Korea's Fair Trade Commission has closed an antitrust investigation of the flash memory industry, concluding that there is no evidence of a pricing cartel.


  • Fallon’s Getting a Dell!
    Fallon would probably have preferred the more colorful Mini9 but he got the Vostro, instead, because I was able to buy a new one from Dell for $199 with free shipping. Heck of a deal.

    [...]

    The Dell people have been uniformly helpful, friendly, courteous, and kind.


  • Dell crowned Bad Santa computer maker by angry customers
    Dell customers are furious at the computer maker after it failed to deliver products in time for the holiday season, and instead offered a "Holiday Card" to place under their Christmas trees to replace undelivered gifts.


  • DVD Is Dead
    The movie studio fantasy was that we’d pay $20-$40 per Blu-Ray disk, but then Daddy was laid-off and that Blu-Ray copy of 8 Mile suddenly wasn’t THAT much better than the DVD version for half the price. Some people decided to wait while others gave up completely, leading to that $68 Blu-Ray player down at WalMart. Remember WalMart is the largest seller of DVD’s (and presumably Blu-Ray disks) in America and possibly the world. WalMart is such a Big Kahuna in the home video business that they can dictate prices pretty much to the rest of the market. I predict, therefore, that after Christmas Blu-Ray prices will crash to only marginally more than DVDs and maybe even the same.


  • Tories swallow Web 2.0, spit out €£1m crowdsource prize
    The Tories are waving a €£1m taxpayer-funded crowdsourcing prize under the noses of developers to produce a website that can "harness the wisdom" of voters to "resolve difficult policy challenges".




  • Security

    • TSA Subpoenas Bloggers, Demands Names of Sources
      As the government reviews how an alleged terrorist was able to bring a bomb onto a U.S.-bound plane and try to blow it up on Christmas Day, the Transportation Security Administration is going after bloggers who wrote about a directive to increase security after the incident.

      TSA special agents served subpoenas to travel bloggers Steve Frischling and Chris Elliott, demanding that they reveal who leaked the security directive to them. The government says the directive was not supposed to be disclosed to the public.


    • US feds squeeze bloggers for posting TSA orders
      At least two bloggers who posted the latest Transportation Security Administration security guidelines have received visits from the feds. One had his laptop confiscated and was served a subpoena. The other just received the subpoena.

      In case you've been recovering from a massive holiday bender and haven't viewed the news recently, on Christmas day a singularly inefficient Nigerian doofus attempted to blow up an airliner by setting his underpants on fire.


    • TSA To Save Print Media? No Electronics On International Flights? What A Joke.
      Obviously, this is all in reaction to the Nigerian man who attempted to bring down a plane coming into the U.S. And the TSA is going to do whatever it thinks is necessary to prevent further attacks of a similar nature. But the simple fact is that if the TSA was really this seriously worried about electronic devices, they could have banned them anytime since the attacks on September 11, 2001. Instead, they’re doing it more than 8 years later after a man apparently lit some sort of mixture of powder and liquid in his lap. How that relates to electronics, I’m not sure. This just reeks of a “well, we have to do something” move.








  • Finance







  • Censorship/Civil Rights







  • Internet/Web Abuse/DRM

    • Despite Awful Customer Service, Woman Felt Forced To Buy Another Sony eBook Reader... Thanks To DRM
      After all of this, she went out and bought another Sony ebook reader. She noted that she would have gladly purchased a competing product "but would have lost access to the library she's spent hundreds of dollars building up." And there it is. The DRM tax at work creating serious lock-in and consumer problems. At least in this case, due to the publicity from Consumerist, Sony agreed to reimburse the woman, but you shouldn't have to get a major publication to tell your story first to get that kind of resolution.






  • Intellectual Monopolies/Copyrights

    • Netflix Trying to Make Peace with Wary Studios for More Streaming Content
      Things are looking tough for Netflix. The online rental service is trying to convince Hollywood studios to sell them the rights to more video content for their “Watch Instantly” streaming offering, but many studios still seem to be mad about Netflix’s deal with Starz last year. The Starz deal, which in one fell swoop added around 2,500 titles for streaming, allowed Netflix to gain access to newer Disney and Sony movies without asking for permission from the studios.


    • Author Robin Sloan Offers Up Money To Fans For Good Remix Ideas
      It's yet another cool way of connecting with fans, and going explicitly against what copyright allows. It's explicitly encouraging people to copy his work and even offering money to them if they do a good job.


    • Songwriter Sues Eddie Vedder for Changing 'Hard Sun' Lyrics
      Peterson is now suing Vedder and has filed papers in New York's Manhattan federal court. The suit states, "Vedder altered certain key lyrics of 'Hard Sun'... eroding the integrity of the composition." Executives at Universal Music are also targeted in the lawsuit after allegedly licensing the track without his permission.










Clip of the Day





Direct link

Recent Techrights' Posts

Father of XBox Says What Microsoft Does Not Want to Hear About XBox (They All Know It's Dead)
Microsoft just worried shareholders will find out Sharma is "just a face" and an undertaker
France Needs to Focus on Software Freedom, Not Flags
We need more SIP advocacy!
Combatting Censorship in the "Civilised World": The Media Blackout Surrounding EPO Strikes and Other Large-Scale Actions
We - collectively speaking - cannot afford to keep the Office in the hands of a "Mafia"
EPO Strike Actions and Other Industrial Actions Are Effective When Management Fears the Staff and Staff No Longer Fears Any Managers
'António the unready' should get ready to be ousted
IBM Did Not Fall Because of COBOL Vapourware, IBM Still Collapses Because It's Worthless, Way Overvalued, and Very Likely Cooks the Books
language-to-language conversion (in the context of programming) is nothing new
 
Links 25/02/2026: 'Hybrid Warfare' and "Boycott the State of the Union"
Links for the day
IBM (and Red Hat) Can Disappear in the Coming Years, Along With Kyndryl (Debt Twice as Big as Its 'Worth')
No wonder Red Hat workers tell us they hate IBM
Software Freedom is Science, But It Also Sustains Life
In some sense, Software Freedom can be explained in the context of nourishing people
“Xbox, like a lot of businesses that aren’t the core AI business, is being sunsetted."
There has been a lot of narrative control lately, including at 9PM on a Friday
3,300 Capsules Known to Lupa and Currently Accessible
Gemini Protocol turns 7 this summer
When it Comes to Firmware, the FSF and Its Founder RMS Won the Argument (But Not the Fight, Yet)
The "whataboutism" tactics are physiological manipulation means of discouraging those who move in the correct direction
Austria Tackles Digital Weapon Disguised as "Social" and/or "Media"
Are we seeing the end days of Social Control Media?
Nothing Over the Horizon for XBox
XBox is not even being sold in many places anymore
Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Contradicting Itself: You Can Use Slop to Cheat Clients, But You Can Also Face Disciplinary Actions Over Slop
Where does the SRA stand on the matter?
In Praise of Eben Moglen
Hopefully Professor Moglen will be with us for many decades to come and become an active speaker on issues such as Software Freedom
Sunsetting IBM (for the Benefit of Few Corrupt Officials and Wall Street Speculators)
IBM will not (and cannot) survive for much longer [...] The issue is bad leadership, not any particular nationality/race
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, February 24, 2026
IRC logs for Tuesday, February 24, 2026
Gemini Links 25/02/2026: Rise of Solar in 2025 and Smallnet Protocols
Links for the day
HR Blunder at IBM or IBM Struggling With Money?
Weird for such an allegedly rich company to be so stingy
Gemini Links 24/02/2026: x86 Computer In-Browser and Administration
Links for the day
Envy is the #1 Enemy of Richard Stallman
Whenever you see someone mocking Richard Stallman, ask yourself: does this person have a reason to be jealous of Richard Stallman?
Life is Sweeter When Less Means More
People need to think "small", not "big" (as in capital)
Championing a Cause
Probably over 100 million GNU/Linux users on laptops/desktops
Balmoral rape cult & Debian suicide cluster indifference, community
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Can Much Longer Can the Financial 'Press' (Pump-n-Dump Megaphone) Cheer for IBM's Accounting Enigma?
IBM has fallen almost 25%
Religious or Not, Consider Quitting Social Control Networks (All of Them) This Season
Lent is a good time to quit addiction such as social control media
Liberating the Self From the Invisible Prison of Plutocrats-Controlled Media and Social Control Media
Can you always see the full picture or does something (someone powerful) obstruct it?
Links 24/02/2026: Drug Cartel Decapitated, Jeffrey Epstein-Connected 'Linux' Foundation Promotes Slop and Buzzwords at MWC Barcelona 2026
Links for the day
2023: Layoffs Are Because of "AI". 2024: Shares Up Owing to "AI". 2025: Shares Recently Fell Due to "AI". 2026 Forbes (Paid by IBM): Shares Falling is Good!
"AI" is smoke and mirrors
Bitcoin: Code of Conduct stifled open source concerns
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Slop Boosters and 'Hype Agents' Render Themselves Irrelevant and the General Public Becomes Incredulous Due to "Bros Who Cry Wolf!"
It won't age well
"Half-baked Vibe Code Shipped Full of Errors"
Seems timely after our latest article
Links 24/02/2026: Copyright Litigation Over Anne Frank’s Diary, "Arrogance of Developers"
Links for the day
Another New Low for Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA): Authorising Slop Disguised as "Legal Advice"
SRA is a lapdog - not a watchdog - of the "litigation industry"
EPO "Cocaine Communication Manager" - Part IV - "Many Jobs Were Given to Spanish Employees for No Related Skills At All"
The EPO's fate might be similar to that of the XBox
Gemini Links 24/02/2026: Hardware Tinkering and Slop Bots Attacking the "Small Web"
Links for the day
Quitting Reddit (Social Control Media Controlled by Conde Nast)
There is a new post in Reddit
IBM is the World Champion at Layoffs and There Are Reportedly More Layoffs in IBM This Month (EU)
IBM fired 60,000 in 1993
Free Software is for Everyone
Young and old, rich and poor etc.
Gemini Links 24/02/2026: Voltage Divider on Slide Rule and Many Raspberry Pi Projects
Links for the day
Links 24/02/2026: Telephone Turns 150, Political News Catchup, and Rearmament
Links for the day
Asha Sharma "a Palliative Care Doctor Who Slides Xbox Gently Into the Night"
2026 will probably be the last year of XBox
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, February 23, 2026
IRC logs for Monday, February 23, 2026
Probably IBM's Worst Day in Wall Street in Well Over a Decade
They try to blame some Anthropic slop, but that's just a distraction from IBM having nothing to offer
The Monday After the 9PM-on-Friday Prepared Puff Pieces-Under-Embargo Microsoft Strategy for XBox Collapse
There are more layoffs ahead at Microsoft's XBox
Kyndryl Also in a Freefall Today, James Kavanaugh's Accounting Skills Seem to be Based on Pumping and Dumping
What is the real value of Kyndryl when its debt is about twice its alleged "worth"?
Not Much Left to "Pump" in This Slop Bubble
let's hope that by the end of the year the whole bubble fully implodes
IBM Common Stock Crashes Hard (Almost $100 Below the Levels of February's Beginning)
Another Kyndryl?
Links 23/02/2026: Withdrawal From Slop and Ukraine Invasion Enters Fifth Year
Links for the day
Gemini Links 23/02/2026: Moving to Gentoo, Wake-on-LAN Script
Links for the day
Kyndryl Fell by About 50% in One Day, IBM Fell 23% in 20 Days
the IBM Titanic
Security and blobs, by Alex Oliva (GNU Linux-Libre)
Reprinted with permission from Alex Oliva
Trusting the Evil Maids
Don't listen to liars and frauds
Aaron Swartz Has Already Explained What Reddit/Conde Nast Meant to Him and Why We Should All Avoid Reddit If We Value Software Freedom
Aaron Swartz did not start Reddit
Valnet's Good Legacy of GNU/Linux Advocacy in Journalism Form
Let's hope they carry on like this
Techrights Thanks Every Single EPO Worker Who Went on Strike Today
We have so much in common
Coders and Thinkers
I used to be a hyper-productive coder; these days I do more thinking and writing
Slop (So-called 'genAI') is Not a Skill, Slop Gets You Suspended or Even Sacked, It Can Eventually End Your Career
Benj Edwards, a so-called 'Senior' so-called 'AI' so-called 'Reporter'
There is No Such Thing as "AI Skills", "AI Competency", "AI Fluency" Etc.
Slop does not give anybody an advantage
EPO Staff Union: The Strike Actions and Other Industrial Actions "Have Already Delivered Measurable Gains."
SUEPO Munich has just issued a statement to staff
Links 23/02/2026: "What Boston Will Cost Me" and Women as Hostages
Links for the day
IRC Usage Levels Seem to be Rebounding This Year
it looks like the total count (tally) of users increased a lot lately
Microsoft Tricked the Media Into Lying About Microsoft Layoffs in January. Now It Does the Same (in February).
Microsoft has got the media by the wallet (or balls)
Free Software Projects Become Slow Due to Slop
It does not improve efficiency or productivity, it reduces both
EPO Strike Has Begun (or Resumed)
The EPO status quo is untenable
Links 23/02/2026: US Surrenders to Climate Change (to Benefit Oil Companies and Slop), UK Court of Appeal to Hear Mazur
Links for the day
GAFAM Jobs No Longer Lucrative
Those days are long gone
Based on Insider Leaks, Asha Sharma's Job is to Kill XBox While Talking About "AI"
They cite SneakerSO
Germans Recognise the Contagion is Digital, Not Racial
How to dismantle or neutralise those weapons? Turn them off
Free Software (or Software Freedom) Ain't No Religion
It's hardly surprising that some of the loudest opponents of Software Freedom and its luminaries also disregard or bend facts
Dr. Andy Farnell Explains Why the Slop Industry is Like Trespassers and Thieves
interesting new article about robots.txt files
The Demise of the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) and Profession Based Around Bullying With SLAPPs and Empty Threats
For press to survive and thrive in the UK we need the hired gun to be submerged
Linux Kernel 7.0 Release Candidate Comes Out, Stallman Turns 73 in Three Weeks
It predates Microsoft and Apple
In Greenland, Firefox's Gecko and KHTML (KDE, But Bastardised by Apple) Bigger Than Chrome
Are those Danes recognising the risk of monoculture?
Gemini Links 23/02/2026: Imperfect Journal, Evil, and "Progress Goes Boing!"
Links for the day
“Power is a Thing of Perception. They Don't Need to be Able to Kill You. They Just Need You to Think They are Able to Kill You” ― Julian Assange
When leadership becomes corrupt enough to lose a sense of authority its days are numbered; it'll be replaced
IBM Has Already Admitted 2026 Mass Layoffs (in 4Q Earnings Call)
We showed this earlier this month, but some people bring that up again
Reasons to Go on Strike in the European Patent Office (EPO)
If you live in Europe and don't work for the EPO, you can still help
First speech of Chanellor Hitler, Andreas Tille & Debian denounce Branden Robinson
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, February 22, 2026
IRC logs for Sunday, February 22, 2026